A computing device includes various electronic components that produce heat during operation, such as central processing units, graphical processing units, and so forth. Since such devices can be damaged by overheating, the computing device may include a cooling mechanism. One such mechanism includes a centrifugal fan, which produces airflow in 360 degrees along trajectories that are perpendicular to its axis of rotation. In a conventional arrangement, the centrifugal fan is placed into a housing that directs (“turns”) the airflow towards an outlet. A thermal transfer device includes fins that are situated near the outlet of the centrifugal fan housing. Heat is communicated from the electronic components to the fins by conduction and/or phase change convection (heatpipe), and air blowing from the outlet cools the fins.
Such conventional systems incur losses, such as from resistance due to turning the air towards the outlet. Also, air naturally exits off the impeller of a centrifugal fan in 360 degrees, and thus initially has a relatively large cross-sectional flow area compared to the relatively small cross-sectional flow area of the scroll housing where the air finally exits a conventional blower. Directing air towards a smaller cross-sectional flow area, as with an outlet in a conventional fan, results in increased velocity since a given volume of air travels faster through a smaller area than through a larger one. Because airflow resistance increases exponentially with velocity, the outlet causes additional airflow resistance. Some of the power used to operate such conventional fans is therefore lost overcoming these resistances.